New Zealand Reach Regulation for Various Sectors

The legal framework for regulating chemicals in New Zealand is the Hazardous substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO). The law came into place in 1996. Since it entered into Law, 22 regulations have been published covering:

• Industrial chemicals
• Detergents
• Cosmetics
• Agrochemicals
• Food Additives
• Veterinary medicine
• Medicine in bulk

The competent authorities are New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment, MfE (for the NSNO Act) and the Environmental Protection Authority, EPA (for the hazardous substances management)

Worksafe New Zealand is responsible of management for hazardous substances in the workplace.

The chemical inventory in New Zealand is called the New Zealand Inventory of Chemicals (NZIoC). The inventory is a collection of all hazardous single substances.

The list contains all chemicals known by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to be present in New Zealand. This means some non-hazardous chemicals were also notified and listed on the NZIoC.

It is not a list of approvals. Group Standards are approvals for a group of hazardous substances of a similar nature, type, hazard, or use. The standards are designed to manage the risks of the substances approved under them. In the NZIoC, the Group Standard of each substance can be seen. All group standards require compliance with a suite of New Zealand EPA Notices.

The NZIoC contains 28,937 substances. Of these, 177 were added in 2011.

Hazardous Chemicals in New Zealand are defined as:

any substance

(a) With 1 or more of the following intrinsic properties:

1. Explosiveness
2. Flammability
3. A capacity to oxidise
4. Corrosiveness
5. Toxicity (including chronic toxicity)
6. Ecotoxicity, with or without bioaccumulation.

(b) Which on contact with air or water (other than air or water where the temperature or pressure has been artificially increased or decreased) generates a substance with any 1 or more of the properties specified in paragraph (a) of this definition.

Type of Chemicals

Each chemical listed on the  NZIoC is given the following status: 

1. The HSNO approval code if a substance has an individual HSNO approval
2. Substances that do not have individual approval can be used as single-component products under an appropriate group standard approval.
3. A substance can only be used as a component in a product assigned to a group standard approval. It cannot be used as a product itself.

Note:

• Impurities and by-products will not be included on the NZIoC.
• Manufactured articles that contain a hazardous substance (other than an explosive substance) are not considered hazardous substances under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act. Notification is not required.

The term Substances as defined under the HSNO Act is different from the EU REACH. In the HSNO Act, substance means the chemical or chemical mixture that is manufactured or imported.

All hazardous substances imported into New Zealand require an approval. There are two types of approval: Group Standards and Individual approval.

Group Standard

Group standards are approvals for a group of hazardous substances of a similar nature, type, hazard or use. All group standards require compliance with a suite of EPA Notices.

Individual Approval

Under the HSNO, individual approvals can be granted for an individual substance (not individual company). Application for an individual approval can be complex and the EPA suggests contacting it at an early stage before the application.

If a new hazardous substance that is considered for approval fits the scope of an existing group standard, it is automatically deemed an approved substance.

If the new substance does not fit the scope of an existing group standard, an application for approval to import or manufacture that substance must be made. The application can be for:

• the substance

• a new group standard

• an amendment to a group standard to include the substance.

New Zealand adopted a GHS based hazard classification in 2001. In July 2006, New Zealand implemented GHS for hazardous substances (both substances and mixtures). 

In 2011, the Environmental Protection Authority imposed a duty on manufacturers and importers of chemicals supplied to New Zealand to classify their chemicals according to GHS 7 (implemented form 30 April 2021), label hazardous chemicals in the workplace, and provide safety data sheets (SDS).

According to the Hazardous Substances (Hazard Classification) Notice 2020 that entered force on 30 April 2021, New Zealand refers to UN GHS Rev. 7 for chemical classification and labelling. New Zealand did not adopt the following GHS clssifications:

• New Zealand did not adopt acute toxicity Category 5. This is the equivalent of the old HSNO 6.1E acute toxicity classification. Substances that were 6.1E due to aspiration hazard will be captured under aspiration hazard Category 1.
  Substances that were 6.1E due to respiratory tract irritation will be captured under the classification of specific target organ toxicity – single exposure Category 3, respiratory tract irritation. 

• New Zealand did not adopt skin irritation Category 3. This is the equivalent of the old HSNO 6.3B.

• New Zealand did not adopt aspiration hazard Category 2.

• New Zealand did not adopt hazardous to the aquatic environment acute Categories 2 and 3. These classifications formed part of the old 9.1D classification. 

• New Zealand did not adopt hazardous to the ozone layer.

• Where the GHS 7 provides optional concentration cut-off values for the classification of mixtures, New Zealand adopted the lower concentration cut-off values. These are listed in Schedule 2 of the Hazard Classification Notice. These lower cut-off values are consistent with pre-existing HSNO cut-off values.

Like many other countries, New Zealand also has its own unique labelling requirements. Such requirements are set by the EPA

• the hazards of the substance

• disposal of the substance

• emergency management

• contact details of the New Zealand importer or manufacturer

• any other information specified in the controls of the substance